Revolucionando el audio del automóvil mediante arquitecturas E/E distribuidas

On August 13, 2025, the European Patent Office published my patent EP 4601324 A1, filed under my name, Raul Bartolome Castro, and assigned to Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH. This patent describes an audio reproduction system that I believe marks a turning point in how the automotive industry will design and deploy audio systems for the next generation of vehicles.

1. Background: Why Car Audio Needed Reinvention

For decades, automotive audio followed a familiar blueprint:

• A head unit (HU) controlling audio sources.
• A central amplifier, often located in the trunk or under seats.
• Dozens of passive speakers connected by dedicated copper wiring.

While this architecture worked, it introduced several critical problems:

1. Wiring Complexity & Weight
   • Each speaker required its own pair of wires from the amplifier.
   • In premium systems with 30–40 speakers, this added up to kilometers of copper wire.
   • For EVs, this extra weight reduced driving range and efficiency.
2. High Development Costs
   • Central amplifiers are expensive and often need to be redesigned for each OEM’s requirements.
   • Development cycles can take 2–3 years, delaying product launches.
3. Poor Scalability
   • Matching a single amplifier design to multiple vehicle platforms is inefficient.
   • Reuse across platforms often results in “over-dimensioned” amplifiers that waste resources.
4. Misalignment with Industry Trends
   • The wider automotive industry is shifting toward centralized computing and zonal architectures.
   • Traditional audio designs remain stuck in a fragmented, domain-controller approach.

It became clear that car audio needed to evolve in the same way that vehicle E/E systems are evolving: toward distributed, lightweight, and scalable architectures.

2. The Patent Innovation: Distributed Audio Architecture

The core idea of EP 4601324 A1 is simple but powerful: move the intelligence and amplification out of the central unit and into the speakers themselves.

Here’s how it works:

• A two-wire serial bus carries digital audio data, control signals, and low-voltage power across the system.
• Low-power smart speakers (e.g., tweeters) receive everything they need from the bus itself.
• High-power smart speakers (e.g., woofers, subwoofers) receive control and audio data over the bus, but their higher power needs are supplied separately from the vehicle battery.
• At the center is a zone computer, responsible for audio processing, data distribution, and system synchronization.

This distributed setup effectively eliminates the need for a massive multi-channel amplifier. Instead, each speaker is its own optimized audio node.

3. Technical Deep Dive: Smart Speakers & New IC Design

A key enabler of this system is a novel semiconductor integration:

• Transceiver: Manages data communication over the serial bus.
• Class-D Amplifier: Efficient amplification (>90%) with minimal heat losses.
• DC/DC Converter: Boosts voltage where necessary for high-power speakers.

Crucially, the speaker chassis itself doubles as a heat sink. In the patent’s designs (see Figures 5–7), the IC is mounted directly onto the speaker frame, allowing heat to dissipate naturally through the metal enclosure and even aided by the diaphragm’s motion.

This is both elegant and practical: no need for bulky external heat sinks, lower packaging volume, and simpler assembly.

4. Advantages of the Distributed System

1. Weight Reduction
   • Eliminating central amplifiers and simplifying wiring can reduce harness weight by several kilograms.
   • For EVs, this translates directly into extended driving range.
2. Scalability & Modularity
   • OEMs can assemble systems by selecting the right combination of smart speakers.
   • Premium brands can go for 40+ speakers, while entry-level trims may use 10–15 — all on the same base architecture.
3. Time-to-Market Improvements
   • Instead of waiting 2–3 years for amplifier development, OEMs can integrate smart speakers in under a year.
   • Audio tuning becomes a matter of software optimization.
4. Future-Proof Design
   • The system aligns perfectly with zonal computing trends.
   • It integrates smoothly with the broader E/E backbone of modern vehicles.
5. Better Acoustic Matching
   • Each speaker is optimized with its amplifier and DSP, ensuring ideal performance.
   • No more mismatches between centralized amps and reused transducers.

5. Industry Implications & Use Cases

This patent positions audio systems as integral parts of vehicle architecture, not isolated add-ons.

• Luxury OEMs can design signature sound experiences that scale across models.
• EV makers gain efficiency by cutting weight and simplifying manufacturing.
• Tier-1 suppliers reduce costs by avoiding repeated amplifier redesigns.

In the long term, I see this as the default audio architecture for the industry: lightweight, modular, and aligned with electrification and autonomy.

6. My Perspective

Personally, this patent is the realization of a vision I’ve held for years: making car audio smarter, lighter, and more adaptable.

While this invention addresses the hardware and architecture, it complements my earlier work (US 2023/0199388 A1) on AI-driven acoustic compensation. Together, these patents define a future where:

• Hardware is distributed and optimized.
• Software and AI ensure perfect real-time sound quality.